YUCATAN: LAND OF THE MAYA

[Music] eastern mexico are the stone remains of a great civilization and uncovered by the patient labor of archaeologists these maya ruins are the most impressive left by any of the ancient peoples of the americas pins arrived in the new world the people who built them were excellent architects they were also fine artists and understood mathematics and astronomy how they talked and so the conquistadores named the area yukatan by the time the spaniards arrived the maya civilization had already declined from the days of its highest importance whose have written records have given them additional clues the ruins tell a great deal about maya history but what sort of people were they we can learn about the early mayas from their living descendants who are scattered in countless villages throughout yucatan they usually speak two languages maya and spanish the villages are quiet places where children play in the streets housewives go about on their daily errands most men and women dress in spotless white the women wear a costume called the we feel in ancient times most people lived in houses like this with walls of wooden poles and roofs of tightly thatched palm fronds today many houses are finished with adobe or plaster floors are covered with glazed tile homes often are oval in shape with a single windowless room the entire family sleeps in hammocks suspended from the walls village life is simple the women performed their tasks in the same way as their mothers did in the past their voice tub is a hollow log set on posts in the shade of the garden in the villages of yucatan as elsewhere in mexico the making of tortillas from corn is an important part of every housewife's day the ancient buyers traded with their neighbors among the products traded was the cacao bean from which chocolate is made today a favorite drink is made by mixing chocolate with sugar and water it is stirred with an implement called the bottidor little tomas enjoys this drink with his breakfast before going to school people come to the village market to buy their household needs they come also to sell the things they have grown or made with their hands the mayas have always been a hard-working people in the villages today everyone is busy with some useful tasks women who offer pottery for sale at the market weave vans for straw hats while they wait for customers the hats woven in this region are made of a soft but strong swamp grass maya pottery is shaped by hand without use of a potter's wheel the beautifully decorated pieces found in museums are no longer made in yucatan but kitchenware and water jars like these are still produced in village shops this boy is making clay ornaments after they are brightly painted they will be used for household decorations wool was unknown to the mayas but they wove cloth from cotton and the fibers of the henneken or sisal plant hammocks used in every village household are still made of sisal fine ones like these are now woven from cotton yarn and are sold in the larger towns the peninsula of yucatan is divided into three parts quintana roo campeche yucatan there are mountains in the south but the land is mostly a flat plain covered with heavy vegetation only a few paved highways stretched across this region sisal is a native plant which was used by the mayas for many purposes the spanish word for this valuable plant is an aken it was first shipped to world markets from a small port called sisal today the fiber is known worldwide by the name sisal the harvested leaves or stalks are brought from the plantations on flat cars to processing plants called despibradoras conveyor belts carry the stalks from the cars to the crushers here the tough juicy stalks are processed by modern machinery the fiber is separated from the pump the pulp is returned to the fields where it is used to fertilize the soil under the hot tropical sun the sisal fibers dry in about three hours then they are graded and labeled ready for shipment to factories which convert them into twine rope bags and upholstery lining it was from this old pier at sea sal that the fiber was first shipped to the outside world today a modern concrete pier at progreso projects more than a mile into the shallow waters of the gulf of mexico progreso is a port of call for ships of many nations each year more than a hundred thousand tons of sisal are shipped to world markets sisal also is grown in africa and the west indies but it remains the principal crop of yucatan the gulf of mexico abounds in seafood pompano red snapper robolo barracuda and many other varieties of fish are brought to the modern plants of progreso for processing the capital of yucatan is merida called the white city because of its cleanliness many windmills throughout the city supply small factories and homes with water from wells merida was founded in 1542 by francisco de montejo nearly 200 000 people live in meredith which is mexico's fifth largest city although it is an important business center it remains a city of great charm arches over the narrow downtown streets marked the gateways in the old city walls for many years after the conquest the indians were warlike these small entrances through the walls made defense from attack easier because the indians were unable to read the spanish language symbols were used as street signs this is the street of the elephant this is the street of the dwarf in merida a friendly beetle called them the catch by the mayas is more than a pet it serves as living costume jewelry a gold chain keeps it from wandering away the present-day mayas are part of the 20th century but in spite of their modern ways and pet beetles scientists are still curious about their past history and continue to search for additional facts among the ruins of their ancient cities such as chichen itza archaeologists have learned that maya cities were built in one area existed for a time and then were abandoned the reasons for this are not yet entirely clear wars among themselves long periods without water or sickness may have caused the mayas to move from one area to another two travelers exploring the back country in 1842 rediscovered the ruins of a city called chichen itza it was overgrown with tropical jungle in 1920 a group of american archaeologists began to excavate and reconstruct the most important of the buildings chichen itza was an important center many centuries before the aztecs founded their capital where mexico city now stands the great pyramid and temple of kukulkan towers above the other ruins at chichen itza near the ruins of kukulkan stands the temple of the warriors on two sides there are paved terraces studded with large carved pillars this was part of an area that stretched across an entire section of the city it was known as the market or the group of the thousand columns this ring was the goal for a popular game similar to basketball the ball had to be kicked through the ring to gain a point the ball court was as large as a modern football stadium all the people came here to the games and celebrations this observatory with its perfect dome enabled maya scientists to calculate the movements of the stars their astronomers made a calendar more accurate than the calendar we used today they were the first to use the mathematical quantity of zero one of the outstanding achievements of all time there are no rivers in this part of yucatan so the mayas used deep natural wells called cenotes in the great cenote chichen itza archaeologists have found the skeletons of victims who were cast from this altar into the dark waters to win the favor of the rain guard chalk ushmael give a continuing food supply and cease to wander from place to place because corn was so important to his life he worshipped this grain in the image of yum kush the corn god the present day towns and villages of yucatan are drab in kantao live buried beneath jungle growth and rubble this hillock is a temple mound within it may lie an exciting discovery or perhaps just a repetition of what has been found before dr willis andrews an archaeologist discovered these mounds while flying over the area in a small plane they are about 30 miles from the city of merida the first step in excavating a mound is the careful removal of debris around the sides to find out what type of structure lies beneath after learning that this mound may contain the ruins of a temple surveyor's equipment is used to make exact measurements this saves time in excavation and helps to protect the hidden walls from damage the piece by piece reconstruction of the ruins of this small temple may take two years or more it is one of dr andrew's important discoveries in the area known as typicaltune a camp is set up near the ruins here the men cook their food over an open fire and sleep in hammocks slung from poles under the shelter dr andrews has proven that sibil chaltun is part of what was once a large city it is much older than anything so far discovered in yucatan workers carefully collect every piece of broken pottery and fragments of stone and clay when reassembled they will reveal additional parts of the maya story this temple was reconstructed in the same area by dr andrews and his staff from these ruins scientists hope to learn more about the mayas and to find out why their civilization did not last the facts already uncovered prove that the mayan people were intelligent and industrious that long before the europeans arrived on this continent they had developed a culture and an understanding of science that rivaled those of other great civilizations [Music] you